Status: Read on January 07, 2014 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

Cemetery Girl Book One: The Pretenders is the first in an original graphic novel trilogy authored by Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden with art and letters by Don Kramer, Daniele Rudoni and Jacob Bascle.

Cemetery Girl introduces a teenage girl who awakens in a graveyard with no memory of who she is but certain someone tried to kill her. Taking her name from the gravestones that surrounds her, Calexa Rose Dunhill decides to remain hidden until she can figure out who she is and why someone wants her dead.

The mystery of Calexa’s identity, and the person who tried to kill her, is the obvious arc for the series, but the plot of this book features a group of teenagers playing at raising the dead, which takes a dark turn and endangers Calexa. There is a paranormal element to the story, but it is also blends crime and action.

Though the speech/thought is minimal, when combined with the art, the story is communicated clearly. The panels are of various sizes and move the action along well. I think the realistic art is well detailed and the colouring evokes the appropriate atmosphere – shadowy and dark in the cemetery at night or when danger is present, muted when Calexa is alone, brighter when she feels strong and warmer when Calexa is with the cemetery groundskeeper and the old lady she befriends across the street. Memories are tinged with sepia.

This is my first read of a graphic novel and the medium offers much more than I expected. I was impressed, not only entertained but also quickly involved in the storyline and I am curious to know what will happen in Book Two: The Inheritance.

I will look out for this. I read my first graphic novel, The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil, just before Christmas and loved it. Have now got a second graphic novel called ‘Nelson’, which I’ve started and am enjoying. I like the genre much much more than I’d expected and so I will look forward to trying this.

I’m really looking forward to this! I’m less enthusiastic about Charlaine Harris in general, but I do enjoy Christopher Golden a great deal, and this sounds terrific! Just waiting for my library to get a copy…

I keep saying I’m going to try a graphic novel and I never seem to get around to it. I really enjoy Charlaine Harris’s writing so regardless of what she contributed I’d like to give it a go and I’ve never read anything by Christopher Golden.